Premier League

Tom White admits he thought Shelvey to West Ham was certain

|

Sky Sports presenter Tom White admitted that he was certain West Ham were going to sign Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey at the start of the window.

The host of Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk revealed he was previously confident that the Hammers would sign the 27-year-old Magpies midfielder before acknowledging that the idea of him going to the Hammers hadn’t even been talked about on his show.

“I was honestly so certain that was happening and it hasn’t even been talked about once on this show,” said White on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk (9:55am, Thursday, August 8th).

“We haven’t mentioned Jonjo Shelvey once in the last six weeks.”

The Sun previously reported that West Ham were confident of signing Shelvey this summer, but did state the player himself would like to stay at St James Park if offered the chance.

OPINION 

White was forced to admit he was previously confident about West Ham signing Shelvey as at the start of the window, himself and his fellow Sky journalist, had to write down the deal they thought was most likely to go through and put in an envelope to be opened on deadline day. That enveloped was opened today, as it’s deadline day, and it’s fair to see White was embarrassed that he thought Shelvey was heading to the London Stadium as the story hasn’t really been spoken about much in the last few weeks. The midfielder, who earns £70,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), struggled to feature at the Magpies last season under Rafa Benitez, as he appeared only 16 times in the league. However with Benitez gone, and Steve Bruce in his place then it seems likely that Shelvey’s playing time may increase. After all, there’s no denying that the 27-year-old is a useful player to call upon. Shelvey has plenty of Premier League experience having played 187 times in the league and is a pass master shown by the fact he has averaged 41.38 passes per matches in those outings (Source: Premier League). The Magpies midfielder is known for pinging accurate long balls forwards, he has played 824 accurate long balls in his Premier League career, and had he arrived, Manuel Pellegrini would have got the best out of him.

Share this article